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Monday, Dec 16 2013, 6AM
Today's a special theme show celebrating 1993, that halcyon year that brought us the X-Files, "Whoomp, There It Is," Bill Nye the Science Guy, that racy Janet Jackson Rolling Stone cover and, uh, probably some other important world events... oh, Mazzy Star, too!
Another band from Reading, Chapterhouse gained traction after winning a fan in Spacemen 3's Sonic Boom and their hit 1991 single "Mesmerise." Blood Music was the band's second, and final, full-length
Yo La Tengo formed in the non-1993 year of 1984 in Hoboken, NJ
Recorded with noted musicians Cynthia Dall and Jim O'Rourke (who, outside of his prolific solo output, has also played with Gastr del Sol, Sonic Youth and Wilco)
British music magazine (remember those?) Melody Maker's Album of the Year for 1993
This single from the NC band proved to be an unexpected smash hit in Europe (a continent known for their love of all things 1993)
YO! The Waterboys stopped by KEXP just recently to celebrate their 30th anniversary and played an excellent in-studio performance. Check out the video here - blog.kexp.org
Remember, it wasn't all gravy in 1993. For example, Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder broke up that year... ("Wino Forever")
A 1993 compilation to benefit NARAL Pro-Choice America, with appearances from other artists like Pavement, Matthew Sweet, Sugar, Soundgarden, Tom Waits and more
Unfortunately the band broke up soon after Anodyne's release, with tension between Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy coming to a head
The Beaster EP is a collection of songs that didn't quite make it on 1992's Copper Blue
SPEAKING OF DINOSAURS... Jurassic Park came out that year
A Storm in Heaven, the British band's debut, was followed by a string of setbacks, including poor sales, Peter Salisbury's arrest, a stay in the hospital for Richard Ashcroft, a lawsuit and the dissolution of the group for a few weeks
Brendan Perry described Mr. Strangelove as his alter-ego, "the abstract relationship of myself and woman"
Officially the debut solo release from the Replacement's front man (although most of their final album, All Shook Down, was recorded without the rest of the band)
'90s Alert: The Lemonheads' Evan Dando is playing Sunday, Deccember 22nd at the Sunset Tavern with Chris Brokaw of Codeine!
The kind-of Twin Peaks-y video (OK, not really, but there's some red curtains) for "My Sister," a then-staple on MTV - youtu.be
The debut from Thom "Tom" Yorke and co. (whose title was taken from a Jerky Boys prank call bit, a comedy duo Slowdive would also look to for album title inspiration)
A CD you can always find at any record store for under $2!
Nirvana was the musical guest for Saturday Night Live's season opener in 1993, hosted by Sir Charles Barkley
Earned a lot of fans, including Brian Eno, from their live sessions with John Peel on BBC
Of "Regret" Peter Hook said it was New Order's "last good song"
If you were bumping this back in '93 you probably smooshed plenty
Samples Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" (in fact, the British group almost exclusively sampled artists from Blue Note's vast back catalogue)
LL Cool J kind of needed to redeem himself after appearing in two terrible films (editorializing here) in the early '90s, The Hard Way and Toys
If your face wasn't on the album cover, YOU WEREN'T IT!
After Pixies broke up in '93 (the second-most heartbreaking split that year, after Winona Ryder + Johnny Depp) Black Francis enlisted Captain Beefheart / Pere Ubu's Eric Drew Feldman for his second S/T solo release
Playing January 10th at Neumos, playing Frosting on the Beater in its entirety! Alcohol Funnycar, Rusty Willoughby and Popsickle round out the bill
"Hey mum, what's Britpop?" "I don't really remember, but two similar looking guys with uneven haircuts were mad at each other, or something."
Because watching music video from the '90s is pretty funny, we present "Gentlemen" (black leather duster + brooding front man + POV bottle throwing = serious video) - youtu.be
According to front man Eric Bachmann the Chapel Hill, NC band recorded and mixed Icky Mettle in a whirlwind, taking only a week to finish it for "...like $5,000"
One of the core band from the alterna-rock hotbed scene of Chapel Hill during the '90s
Drumming on this album from Mick Fleetwood! ALSO, were you aware Matthew Sweet was in one of the Austin Powers movies?
The great Dunedin, NZ band was a staple of the Flying Nun label in the '80s and '90s and is now seeing reissue treatment from Brooklyn label Captured Tracks! - capturedtracks.com
Despite moving into a more guitar-oriented, leather jacked-clad, feedback-heavy sound, Songs of Faith and Devotion proved you can take Depeche Mode out of the Depeche Mode but you can't take Depeche Mode out of the, uh... how does that expression go?
Gave themselves a hard-to-Google name before it was fashionable (oh, and AOL started mainstream service in 1993, known as Usenet)
The certified Gold #1 hit saw heavy music video airplay (whose directors would go on to direct Little Miss Sunshine) - vimeo.com
A lot of smarter, more thoughtful (though maybe less handsome?) people have written a ton about this album, so, dunno, you should probably read their thoughts on the matter or something
This song + album catapulted The Breeders to stardom, earning them a prime spot on the 1994 Lollapalooza tour (if you remember, you, like, weren't there mannnnnn)
The music has aged gracefully, the album cover art, er, not so much
The Tacoma band's singer Aaron Stauffer used to be in a band called Spook & The Zombies
Originally intended as a diss song with Chubb Rock in its cross-hairs
Icelandic pop artist Björk is featured in this KEXP documentary, "Electronic Innovators." Check it out on the KEXP blog here: blog.kexp.org
You can check out this live video of Poliça performing live on KEXP last year: blog.kexp.org